Rika Takahashi | 6 March 2014Sixteen thousand – that’s the number of the superconducting radiofrequency (SCRF) accelerating cavities needed to build the 500-Giga-electronvolt linear collider. The fabrications of these 16 000 cavities will be divided between the three regions of Europe, the Americas, and Asia. This week, encouraging news about SCRF cavity fabrication came from Asia.
Category: Around the World | Tagged: cavity gradient, China, industrialisation, Japan, SCRF

Barbara Warmbein | 21 November 2012An industrial study commissioned by the Global Design Effort in collaboration with experts from CERN gives a clearer picture of how cryomodules for the ILC could be mass-produced by industry. The study, whose results were recently presented at a meeting between accelerator experts from different labs. A similar study has looked at cavity serial production. One of the scientists leading the cryomodule study, Vittorio Parma from CERN, was the driving force behind the cryostat assembly for 2000 cryomagnets for CERN’s Large Hadron Collider between 2003 and 2008 and thus predestined to lend his experience to the project.
Category: Feature | Tagged: CEA Saclay, CERN, cryomodule, European XFEL, industrialisation, serial production

Akira Yamamoto | 26 May 2011As part of Technical Design Phase 2, the Global Design Effort has been working towards more realistic and cost-effective industrialisation models for the production of superconducting radiofrequency cavities and cryomodules, as these are primary cost drivers in the ILC construction estimate. To that end, they have been organising a series of visit to cavity and material manufacturers and workshops. The next one is in July 2011 in Chicago, US.
Category: Director's Corner | Tagged: cavity, cryomodule, industrialisation, industry, SCRF, SRF2011

Rika Takahashi | 1 July 2010The ILC will have an ultra-cold and complex heart made of niobium, a rare, soft, grey, and ductile transition metal. Some 18,000 radio frequency (RF) accelerating cavities for the ILC will be made of niobium, which becomes superconductor when cooled to nearly absolute zero. The global annual production of niobium in 2007 was 58,000 tonnes, and it is expected to grow up to 45 percent more in 2010 with a positive trend towards economic recovery. Although it is a 'rare' material, the reserves of niobium are assumed to be enough to cover the current world demand for 500 years
Category: Feature | Tagged: industrialisation, niobium, SRF industrialisation